Tom Toles explains Dick Cheney's position in the government.

Ender's i-phone condrum.

My fiance is running her first 15K (and a half marathon in August)

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed course Friday and agreed to hear claims of Guantanamo detainees that they have a right to challenge their detentions in American federal courts.

and:

"The decision, announced in a brief order released Friday, sets the stage for a legal fight that appears likely to shape debates in the Bush administration about how to close a detention center that has become a lightning rod for international criticism. More than 370 men are being held at the naval station on a scrubby corner of Cuba.

The unusual order, which required votes from five of the nine justices, rescinded an April order in which the justices declined to review a federal appeals court decision that ruled against the detainees.

The court offered no explanation for the change. But the order meant that the justices will hear the full appeal in their next term, perhaps by December. The court rarely grants such motions for reconsideration. Some experts on Supreme Court procedure said they knew of no similar reversal by the court in decades.

After two earlier Supreme Court decisions since 2004 that have been setbacks for the administration's Guantanamo detention policies, the order Friday signaled that the justices had determined to resolve another politically and legally freighted detention issue.

"Finally, after nearly six years, the Supreme Court is going to rule on the ultimate question: Does the Constitution protect the people detained at Guantanamo Bay?" said Neal Katyal, a Georgetown University law professor who argued the last Supreme Court case dealing with the Guantanamo detainees. "

SC shows consistent growth over the past six months in terms of page views (note Feb was 28 days), particularly nice since the other big lefty (dKos) and righty (RS) sites dropped off in June. Of course, we're still a teensy bit behind those sites in terms of actual numbers, so feel free to invite your friends to come post =)

Swords Crossed:

Red State:

Daily Kos:

back to Florida. You've got to see the pic with this article .

We've all seen the news reports . The police found two cars off Picadilly Square and that Jeep the crashed into a garage at the airport or something.

Now don't get me wrong. An inept would be terrorist is preferrable to one who can actually carry out their plan. But to think that terrorism has graduated to The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight leaves me wondering, What's goin' on?

Now a conspiracy minded person might think all these bumbling jobs are plants to try and push an agenda, but such is the life of conspiracy believin' folk.

What do I think? I'm not sure. Probably somewhere between being grateful for idiots (for a change) and the conspiracy theorists.

(TMI edition)

Great week this week. I actually got out of the house twice in one week for the first time since last October. Of course, that meant I had to get out of bed, and out of my pajamas. I'm feeling brighter.

And on one of those trips, I was able to get some blood pressure medication, a month's worth, first ime since 2003. So maybe I won't be so volatile with missliberties for the next month.

Further, my daughter bought tickets for she and I to go see Midori play the Mendelssohn. I'm polishing my best cane (a walking stick that an ancestor brought from Ireland), but if luck holds, I really won't need it.

I haven't been to Eugene for a few years, and it is a longish trip, but this could be well worth it. Besides, I used to know a place there where one could get real Turkish coffee, thick enough to bite. I always ask for it without the sugar. I actually acquired a taste for this version of coffee from an Armenian friend, who invited me to his home a few times. Before the first time, he warned name about the coffee, said that men should not flinch, and the proper thing to say about it was, "In my house, coffee this weak is reserved for women and children." Which I did, and gained instant acceptance!

So, I'm busy assembling my travel kit, lining up some music for the trip--I've been working up Horace Silver's "Ecaroh," lately, and am going to get out the ancient Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers recording from the fifties where it was first recorded. (Silver was with Blakely then.) One hasn't really heard this piece unless one has heard Blakely's drums on it.

I've got my dress jeans (the black ones) ready to go! I'm kind of excited.

Of course, this may not be so exciting to you'alls, but I haven't been out of town for a couple of years, at least. So I'm more than ready.

The daughter and I are going to get out our recording of the Mendelssohn, by another artist, to study up.

and there are many many other reasons....

Have a read and see.

Joe thinks the averted bombing in London is a good spring board for his fetish with "security".

The Brits have got something smart going in England and it was part of, I believe, why they were able to so quickly apprehend suspects in the terrorist acts over the weekend. And that is they have cameras all over London and other of their major cities.

No, Joe, someone saw smoke coming from a car and called the authorities. These are little things that add up to bigger things. Then one day we wake up and say "What the hell happened?!?!"

No thanks, Joe.

piece of America bashing on dkos - America - The world's greatest nuisance

I put a comment in his diary with a "f*** you" in there.

I'm leaving for the wilderness of British Columbia, and will be blissfully away from my keyboard for a month, continuing my lifelong quest to find the absolute best scenery in North America.  The glaciers may be shrinking but the mountains will always be beautiful.  I will miss you all :-)